A woman and her son died in a Lansing housing complex fire. It was her birthday.

Lansing Fire Department officials confirm a 30-year-old woman and her 5-year-old son were killed early this morning in a house fire at the LaRoy Froh housing complex in south Lansing.
Chris Haxel | Lansing State Journal

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A 43-year-old woman and her 5-year-old son were killed Thursday, June 7, 2018, in a fire at the LaRoy Froh public housing complex in Lansing.(Photo: Christopher Haxel | Lansing State Journal)Buy Photo

LANSING - Fire Department and public housing officials said smoke detectors and windows were operable in a publicly-managed townhouse where a woman and her young son died in a fire early Thursday morning.

The woman has been identified as Tarshrikia Beasley, and her 5-year-old son as Elijah Brown, Lansing Fire Captain Steve Mazurek said Thursday afternoon.

The fire broke out on Beasley's 43rd birthday.

Mazurek said Beasley and her son were found by fire officials on the second floor in the same room.

It's unclear when fire officials will conclude their investigation.

“What we have is that the fire was confined to the kitchen area," Mazurek said. "The exact cause of the fire right now is undetermined."

Officials were called to the LaRoy Froh housing complex at 4:27 a.m. Thursday, Mazurek said.

The victims were transported to a local hospital, where they were pronounced dead, he said. There was nobody else in the home at the time.

The 100-unit LaRoy Froh housing complex is one of four public housing properties owned and operated by the Lansing Housing Commission.

Martell Armstrong, the commission's executive director, said Thursday the townhouse where the fire occurred passed two safety inspections, at both the city and federal level, in October 2017.

JDK Construction, a third-party contractor, fixed at that time "an issue" with the townhouse's locks to its first floor windows that stemmed from a resident's complaint, Armstrong said.

He added the commission didn't receive any complaints at that time about windows on the second floor where fire officials found the victims Thursday.

Armstrong said he has an invoice that shows the work done to fix the windows and would send a copy to the State Journal by Friday. He also said staff members told him Thursday the windows had been fixed last year.

“I’m confident that any deficiencies that came out of the inspections were addressed," Armstrong said.

Armstrong, who was at the scene of Thursday's incident in the 2400 block of Reo Road, has been directed by Tony Baltimore, the commission's board chair, to provide him a report about the fatal fire.

The five-member board is appointed by the mayor. Its next scheduled meeting is June 27.

“We certainly want to make sure we get the right information out there," Baltimore said.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has oversight of the LaRoy Froh complex.

A neighbor called in the fire after he tried unsuccessfully to enter the building, said Mazurek, the Lansing fire captain.

There was heavy fire damage on the first floor, and "heavy heavy smoke throughout" the residence, he said. Two adjacent townhouses, which share a common exterior wall, were not damaged, he said.

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said the city is compiling building safety and code enforcement inspection records and will release those documents in a few days.

“This is a tragic incident here in the City of Lansing," Schor said in a statement Thursday. "Anytime there is a loss of life it is devastating to the family, our first responders and the entire city. As a community, we must unite and offer our support and thoughts to the family and loved ones of those who lost their lives, as well as the first responders who took the call."

City Council President Carol Wood, chair of council's public safety committee, says she is watching closely for more information.

"It's a deeply tragic situation," Wood said. "My concern right now is to make sure that everything was up to code."

"It is my deepest hope that we do not find that the fire was due to structural issues," Washington said. "This has got to be such an emotional blow to the people who live in the area. People deserve to be safe in their homes, regardless of their economic situation."

Smoke damage near a second-floor window where a 43-year-old woman and her 5-year-old son were killed in a house fire Thursday, June 7, 2018 in Lansing.(Photo: Christopher Haxel | Lansing State Journal)

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A 43-year-old woman and her 5-year-old son were killed Thursday, June 7, 2018, in a fire at the LaRoy Froh public housing complex in Lansing.(Photo: Christopher Haxel | Lansing State Journal)